Category Archives: Default

Is there anything a human brain cannot do? You cannot help marveling at the ability of the brain to control external forces. In the world of internet and high tech mobiles, the need to remember things seems to have lost importance. Browsing the internet for basic doubts has become the order of the day, as one does not want to take time to recall or put his brain to test.

Remembering telephone numbers are no more in existence. You have a mobile and you use it to call; it seems simple. Ever since mobile phones came into picture, man stopped memorizing phone numbers since it was considered no longer necessary. We find so many people fail to recall even their residence landline numbers. While technology stands proof of the brilliance of the brain behind it, we need to accept that it has done away with some of the routine practices of the brain. We could only say that we abuse our brains by not using enough of it. To prove what our brain can do, here is a list of tech devices created by men that our brain can control.

(1) Emotiv EPOC – It Is Mind Over Matter

Since we are in the world of computers, let us begin with the computer. While computers and laptops have made our work easier, Emotiv EPOC makes the work easier still. You can do away with your keyboard and mouse, as you no longer need them to work on your system. With Emotiv EPOC, you can use your brain to control your computer. The concept does not limit itself to be used in computer. It works on all electrical application. It could be of great help to people whose are confined to wheelchairs.

(2) BrainDriver – Not Brainless Driving Anymore

Though in its early stages, the project BrainDriver aims to make driverless car. At least, you are not going to use your hands any more. Your brain is going to control your car’s movements and hence, from now on, one may say ‘brain behind the wheels’.

(3) No Stretching For Switches – Saving Energy?

Another interesting innovation is controlling the lights with the thought of your mind. Now, one does not have to get up to turn on or turn off the lights. You only need to spare a moment with your thought and no physical movement involved.

(4) Prosthetic Limbs – Artificial Limbs Are More Real

A stunning breakthrough in artificial limbs. With prosthetic limbs, people are just of feeling the sensation in their limbs. For those with disabilities, prosthetic limbs are a great boon. The arm enables the person to control it through his thoughts stimulated by his brain.

(5) Controlling iPhone – Touch And Voice Seem Too Much Of An Effort

Yet another interesting creation in the tech world is the operation of iPhone using your brain. Now you no longer have to touch or speak to let the phone identify your needs. All you need to do is to apply your thoughts directly on your iPhone and let it work.

We have entered a new age with such advancements in technology. Behind all the technical advancement, the statement that is made loud and clear is that human brains can do anything and its powers are limitless. Every new invention goes to prove the ability of the brain that worked towards achieving it. Hence, it is hats off to the brilliant human brain.

Author Bio:

Atish likes to write about interesting advancements in the tech world. He is amazed by the potential of the “Internet” and believes that discovery of internet was the first true step towards technological advancement. He always utilizes the services obtained from internet to the fullest. Even when it comes to shopping; he prefers it online. Whether it is for buying shoes at a discount from Myntra, or shirts from Jabong, he does it all online. Apart from that, he believes that science and technology should never be under-estimated.

By default, switching windows doesn’t look COOL in Cinnamon / Linux Mint – it’s just the plain simple way. There is nothing wrong with that but if you want to try something new – to make it more cool or Fun then you should checkout some extensions available (freely) for Cinnamon Desktop.

CoverFlow AltTab : An Extension for Cinnamon

it creates a Cover-flow effect while going through the open windows in Cinnamon Desktop, currently the packages are available for Linux Mint and Fedora (you may try mint package in Ubuntu but I’m not sure whether it works or not). The trigger key is Alt+Tab (for switching applications), Ctrl+Tab (to switch between the windows of an application) and Ctrl+Alt+Tab (same as first but it cycles through all the workspaces).

How to Install this Theme Extension in Cinnamon ?

Extract the archive and inside the mint directory, you will find a directory called CoverflowAltTab@dmo60.de, just copy that directory to ~/.local/share/cinnamon/extensions (You don’t need any root permission, do it a as a normal user)

OpenBSD version 5.0 released today. OpenBSD is a Unix like operating system (BSD – Berkeley Software Distribution). It is available as open source software (under BSD License), initially forked from NetBSD. OpenBSD is very popular for the additional security features (as compare to any other OS).

The new version has arrived with a lot of new features and changes (a number of bugs has been fixed and the supported common applications and tools has been updated) – including better hardware support.

OpenBSD 5 is available for a number of platforms such as intel i386, AMD64, MIPS, Alpha, PowerPC, SPARC 32/64, VAX and others.

GNOME

The most Popular Linux Desktop, Latest version : 3.0 (Released on April 6, 2011), Other major version : 2.3. it’s free and open source software, developed by GNOME community, developers around this planet. it’s based on GTK framework. Most of the Popular distros like Fedora, Ubuntu (not in 11.04) etc. uses GNOME as their default Window Manager.

KDE

Another Popular Desktop (free and released under LGPL), based on Qt framework.

Unity

a new desktop, Developed by Canonical, will be the default desktop for upcoming versions of Ubuntu.

So let’s decide, what’s the best desktop among them and why ( explain it, through comment(s) ) ??

Which is your Favorite Desktop ??

Skype is a freeware (limited) Application that is used in Instant messaging, voice calls (VoIP,Voice over Internet Protocol) and video conferencing. You can also call to mobile or landline telephones with some charges (Debit type). Skype (originally called as : sky peer-to-peer) is one of the most popular apps for video calling.

Skype is different from other VoIP software, due to its architecture, other VoIP software are based on client server system (e.g Google Talk) while Skype uses peer to peer system (probably that’s the reason why Skype consumes a lot of bandwidth in comparison to other VoIP application). On Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), empathy is installed by default, but it’s video/audio quality is very poor, skype is better than that. This article will explain you – how to install skype (Latest beta version : 2.2) on a freshly installed Ubuntu 11.04. Since Skype is a proprietary application, you can’t find it in Ubuntu Software center or Synaptic Package Manager, so it can be installed after downloading the package (Debian Package, with extension .deb).

Features of Skype

Instant Messaging

Audio/Video Calling

Video Conferencing

File Transfer

Screen/Desktop Sharing

Facebook News Feed

call transfer

group calling

Installing Skype On Ubuntu 11.04

#1 : Download the *.deb file (select latest version of Ubuntu and your computer architecture) from it’s official website –

#2 : Install skype – either by ‘Right Click -> Open with Ubuntu Software Center ->Install’ method or from command line using dpkg, Type the following command(s), followed by your user account password (Here I assume your computer architecture is 32 bit, if you have other package, then just change the command according to that):

sudo dpkg -i skype-ubuntu_2.2.0.25-1_i386.deb

#3 : Wait, until the installation is complete. That’s all..access it from Main Menu (Top Left) or pinch it to the letf icon panel (as a launcher), if you use it frequently.